Lego Star Wars (theme)
LEGO® Star Wars is a theme introduced by the Lego® group in 1999. History 1999 - 2001: Episode I and the Original Trilogy In 1999, the Lego® group announced its partnership with Lucasfilm. In the same year the first Lego® Star Wars sets were released. The X-Wing was the first of the new sets and was quickly followed by sets from the Original Trilogy. Those sets were released in October 1999. They included 7150 TIE Advanced & Y-wing, 7180 B-wing Fighter, 7110 Landspeeder, 7130 Snowspeeder and 7128 Speeder Bikes. In November 1999 Lego® released its first sets from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Those sets icnluded 7101 Lightsaber Duel, 7111 Droid Fighter, 7121 Naboo Swamp, 7131 Anakin's Podracer, 7141 Naboo Fighter, 7151 Sith Infiltrator, 7161 Gungan Sub and 7171 Mos Espa Podrace. The majority of the first Lego® Star Wars releases was from Episode I as this Star Wars episode premiered in cinemas during that time. In 1999, Lego® also introduced the Star Wars Mindstorms® line. The first set of this line was the 9748 Droid Developer Kit. In 2000 there were new releases both from the Original Trilogy and from Episode I. Those sets included 7104 Desert Skiff, 7134 A-wing Fighter, 7144 Slave I and 7190 Millennium Falcon. Episode I sets included 7115 Gungan Patrol, 7124 Flash Speeder, 7155 Trade Federation AAT, 7159 Podracer Bucket and 7184 Trade Federation MTT. Lego® also introduced a new line of litte packs including three Star Wars minifigures and three display cards. Three of those sets (3340 Star Wars 1, 3341 Star Wars 2 and 3342 Star Wars 3) were from the Original Trilogy and one set (3343 Star Wars 4) was from Episode I. In the same year, Lego® introduced the Star Wars Technic line. The first sets of this line were all from Episode I and consisted of 8000 Technic Pit Droid, 8001 Technic Battle Droid and 8002 Technic Destroyer Droid. Another new addition to the Lego® Star Wars brand was the Ultimate Collector's Series. It started in 2000 with the 7191 X-wing Fighter. In the same year, the second UCS set, the 7181 TIE Interceptor, was released. A new line of Star Wars keychains was also introduced in 1999. One of the first Star Wars keychains was the 3913 Darth Vader Key Chain. It was basically the regular Darth Vader minifigure made into a keychain with a small Lego® sign on its back. In 2000, the second and last set of the Star Wars Mindstorms® line was released. It was the 9754 Dark Side Developer Kit. In 2001 the new releases focused on the Original Trilogy. In this year, four sets from the Original Trilogy were released. They included 7106 Droid Escape, 7127 Imperial AT-ST, 7146 TIE Fighter and 7166 Imperial Shuttle. Episode I sets included 7126 Battle Droid Carrier and 7186 Watto's Junkyard. The Technic line was continued with the 8007 Technic C-3PO and the 8008 Technic Stormtrooper. The Ultimate Collector's Series also featured new releases in 2001. New items included 10019 Ultimate Collector's Tantive IV and 10018 Darth Maul Bust. 2002 - 2004: Episode II and the Original Trilogy In 2002, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was released. With the release of the new Star Wars movie, Lego® released several Episode II themed sets. This sets included 7103 Jedi Duel, 7113 Tusken Raider Encounter, 7133 Bounty Hunter Pursuit, 7143 Jedi Starfighter, 7153 Jango Fett's Slave I and 7163 Republic Gunship. But not only sets from Episode II were released. Original Trilogy sets included 7119 Cloud Car, 7139 Ewok Attack, 7142 X-wing Fighter, 7152 TIE Advanced & Y-wing, 7200 Final Duel I, 7201 Final Duel II, 7203 Jedi Defense I and 7204 Jedi Defense II. In 2002, Lego® released the last four models of its Star Wars Technic line. These included 8009 Technic R2-D2, 8010 Technic Darth Vader, 8011 Technic Jango Fett and 8012 Technic Super Battle Droid. The Ultimate Collector's Series was also continued with three new sets. These were 10026_Ultimate Collector Naboo Starfighter, 10030 Imperial Star Destroyer and 7194 Jedi Master Yoda. In 2002, Lego® introduced a new line of Star Wars MINI sets. The first models of this new line were 3219 MINI TIE Fighter, 4486 MINI AT-ST & Snowspeeder and 4487 MINI Jedi Starfighter & Slave I. In 2003, Lego® continued its Star Wars line with sets from Episode II and from the Original Trilogy. New sets from Episode II were 4478 Geonosian Fighter, 4481 Hailfire Droid and 4482 AT-TE. Sets from the Original Trilogy included a trio of sets depicting scenes from Jabba's Palace: 4475 Jabba's Message, 4476 Jabba's Prize and 4480 Jabba's Palace. Sets from Episode IV (4477 T-16 Skyhopper) and Episode V (4479 TIE Bomber, 4483 AT-AT) were also released. In this year, the Star Wars MINI line from Lego® was also continued. New releases included 4485 MINI Sebulba's Podracer & Anakin's Podracer, 4488 MINI Millennium Falcon, 4489 MINI AT-AT, 4490 MINI Republic Gunship and 4491 MINI MTT. In the following year, the Lego® group continued its Lego® Star Wars theme with releases from the Original Trilogy. Sets from Episode IV included 4501 Mos Eisley Cantina, 4502 X-wing, 4504 Millennium Falcon, 7262 TIE Advanced and Y-wing, and 10134 Y-Wing Attack Starfighter. Sets fom Episode V included 4500 Rebel Snowspeeder and 10123 Cloud City. In the same year, the Star Wars Mini line was once agained continued with the release of several new sets. These were the 4492 MINI Star Destroyer, 4493 MINI Sith Infiltrator, 4494 MINI Imperial Shuttle and 4495 MINI AT-TE Lego® Star Wars sets. 2005 - 2006: Episode III and the Original Trilogy On May 19th, 2005, the final Star Wars movie, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, aired in theatres. To commemorate the release of this movie, Lego® released several Lego® Star Wars set from Episode III. The releases included 7250 Clone Scout Walker, 7251 Darth Vader Transformation, 7252 Droid Tri-Fighter, 7255 General Grievous Chase, 7256 Jedi Starfighter and Vulture Droid, 7257 Ultimate Lightsaber Duel, 7258 Wookiee Attack, 7259 ARC-170 Starfighter, 7260 Wookiee Catamaran, 7261 Clone Turbo Tank, 7283 Ultimate Space Battle, and 65771 Episode III Collectors' Set. But sets from the Original Trilogy were also released. These releases included 7263 TIE Fighter, 10131 TIE Collection, and 10144 Sandcrawler. 2007: The 30th anniversary of Star Wars 2008: The Clone Wars Sources *Lego Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary External links *LEGO Star Wars on LEGO.com *LEGO Star Wars on Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki Category:Lego Star Wars